Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts after a call during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game against Bowling Green, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Michigan State won 64-53. (AP Photo/J.D. Pooley) / AP

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Late in Jabari Parker’s press conference today in the gymnasium at Chicago Simeon High, he was asked what he needs to do to improve as a player. He said he needed to be less of a nice guy, especially late in games at winning time, and “work on taking people’s hearts out.”

He probably took a chunk out of Tom Izzo’s today when he put on that Duke hat – after a recruitment that stayed free of leaks all the way until ESPNU’s excessively long production of the decision. And that’s not because Parker’s decision to play for Duke instead of MSU is a devastating blow to Izzo’s program.

It’s far from that. Izzo will make do with this three McDonald’s All-Americans and several other talented players who had offers from many other prominent schools. And he might just take this group to a Final Four in the next year or two.

No, the pain for Izzo and Dwayne Stephens, his lead recruiter on Parker, has to be in the fact that years of effort went poof today. And the fact that when the day dawned, they still had strong hope that Parker would throw on a green hat for the cameras.

From all indications and accounts, MSU put as much effort into the recruitment of Parker as any prospect during Izzo’s tenure. And that’s saying something. And usually, when Izzo goes the distance and builds a relationship with a kid and his parents, he wins.

But this was Duke, with Mike Krzyzewski fresh off gold in London, coaching the No. 1 team in the country, owner of a resume that includes four national titles and 23 first-round picks.
This was a risk, because the primary opposition is one of college basketball’s true “bluebloods,” a program like North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky, capable of plucking any player from any region of the country at any time.

Also, because the alternative is an empty class. But MSU focused on Parker because Izzo believed the chance to put together perhaps his most gifted team was worth the risk.

He said Monday he had “no regrets” about the decisions he made in recruiting this year. I can buy that because he’s left with a stocked roster and a lot of potential for the class of 2014. Still, this has to sting – especially when there was no indication all the way until the announcement, and when some of Parker’s reasons for picking Duke are a bit hazy.

Perhaps some day, when Izzo can speak on the record about Parker, he’ll compare this to the feeling he had when he lost Chris Webber to Michigan as a Jud Heathcote assistant. Like Parker, Webber was long believed to be an MSU lean before making his decision.

The obvious reason for picking Duke is that it’s Duke. Parker said as much, citing tradition and calling Krzyzewski a “guru of basketball.”

He also talked about academics, and it was clear his mother is big on the Duke degree. She said the family has already looked into a plan for Parker to get one even if he leaves for the NBA after a year.

Parker also confirmed that MSU was his leader before he went on official visits, but then said Duke’s visit was his worst one. Also, he said he personally liked Billy Donovan better than any coach during the recruiting process.

He said he didn’t completely decide until about three hours before the presser, but his older brother, Christian, told me he believed Duke was in the lead for quite a while.

Strangest of all was Parker’s insistence that Branden Dawson was the No. 1 reason he didn’t pick MSU.

“A lot of things went into it, like how will I be used on the floor,” Parker said. “Branden Dawson, me and him play the same position and there could kind of be a controversy if me and him were on the same court and run into each other.”

Pressed on the Dawson issue, Parker said: “I think it was the main reason why I didn’t pick (MSU) today. I don’t want to mess up his thing, his groove. He’s been there two years, so me coming in there would be kind of disrespectful for him and the program. I just want him to do well. He’s a local kid from the area, from Gary, Indiana. And me coming in at the last minute would kind of ruin everything.”

Sorry, but what? Rodney Hood and Amile Jefferson, both 6-8 big wing/combo forward types, will be after Parker’s minutes next season in Durham. And he’s joined in this class by 6-6 small forward Semi Ojeleye.

At MSU, Izzo would have started Dawson and Parker together, obviously, and both could have played both the three (small forward) and the four (power forward). So I have to think this was just an attempt by Parker to let Izzo down easy. It’s just that he talked a lot about it.

Unwittingly, he kind of put a target on Dawson in the process. Now MSU fans have someone to blame.

But I don’t think that was his intent, just as I don’t think the excessiveness of ESPNU’s production was his idea. He seems like a nice kid and I’m sure he’ll do big things at Duke.

As for Izzo, the key for him now is not scrambling to find someone else in the class of 2013 – sure, MSU may sign someone, but it’s not going to be someone of high impact at this point. The key is the class of 2014, and perhaps his hard work in Chicago will yield Cliff Alexander and/or Jahlil Okafor, big men here who are prime MSU targets.

And if the rest of this MSU season goes well, maybe we’ll get a little Duke-MSU matchup at Breslin Center for next season’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge. A story line-hungry media member can dream.

One last thing. Today before heading to Simeon, I wrote two stories, with one to be posted online the moment Parker announced. One was a story about Parker committing to MSU, one was a story about Parker committing to Duke.

This is not uncommon in our profession, though we often just have the stories written and then send at the moment the news happens. This happened all over the gymnasium today with writers who had stories mostly written and ready to go, using their wireless cards and sending right as Parker put on the Duke hat.

I couldn’t do that today because the “hotspot” on my phone isn’t functioning, so I sent the stories in early to our desk and to the Lansing State Journal, which runs much of my MSU stuff. Unfortunately, a computer crashed at the LSJ and both stories were published prematurely – causing a brief but intense Internet firestorm.

Sorry for those of you who noticed. Sorry for mentioning it to those of you who didn’t. Hopefully we’ll all still be around Saturday to see how Jabari-Free MSU plays against Texas.

Contact Joe Rexrode: 313-222-2625 or jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.